Living together kills joy of marriage (?)

More stupid reasoning. Did it occur to the researchers to ask WHO were the people who did not cohabit before marriage? Could it be that many of them were religious and that the shared religion helped to keep the subsequent marriage together?

COUPLES living together before marrying stand a higher chance of divorce than those who wait until they are engaged or married before moving in together, according to the Journal of Family Psychology. The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Denver, also found that couples who lived together before marrying reported lower marriage satisfaction.

"We think that some couples who move in together without a clear commitment to marriage may wind up sliding into marriage partly because they are already cohabiting," study co-author Galena Rhoades said.

More than 70 per cent of couples in the United States live together before marrying, according to the article. Yet the researchers "have found evidence that cohabiting before engagement, even only with one's future spouse, is associated with lower marital quality and higher divorce potential".

In a separate study that appeared in the Journal of Family Issues, the researchers studied the reasons why couples chose to live together. The most common answer was because they wanted to spend more time together, followed by convenience.

Earlier research suggested that people cohabited before marrying because they wanted to test their relationship. "Cohabiting to test a relationship turns out to be associated with the most problems in relationships," Ms Rhoades said.

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People in poor health tend to have lower incomes

And the sky is blue and grass is green. Why this exceedingly obvious finding was deemed worth reporting is the surprise. And the inference drawn from it is equally nutty. It assumes that good health is a matter of choice. If only that were so! Exercise would indeed seem to have some benefit at the margins but the normal recommendations for what constitutes "healthy" eating are not supported by the double-blind research

PEOPLE who are healthy are more likely to have higher incomes and better job prospects, according to the latest AMP.NATSEM report Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?. It found people who were unhealthy earned less than half of the average income of healthy people. The unhealthy also had poor participation in the workforce, with one in every two unhealthy working-age people not working, compared to one in five working-aged people who had good health. And unhealthy workers were more likely to be in casual work rather than full-time positions, meaning most lost access to the sick pay benefits that full-time workers had. The average income of healthy people rose from $41,000 in 2001/02 to $54,000 in 2006/07 while those with "persistent poor health" found their incomes fell from $24,000 to $22,000 in the same period.

"The message is clear," said AMP financial planner Andrew Heaven. "Investing time and effort in good health is worth the effort in terms of having a job and a good income. "Staying fit and healthy generally requires strong discipline in terms of eating habits and exercise. "Applying that same discipline to money management will provide financial benefits down the track."

The report found Australians were in good financial shape, experiencing the fourth highest level of quality of life in the world. But many were unprepared for life-changing circumstances such as unexpected illness or injury.

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